economy, it would be good for our children's future. and i believe that both parties can agree on a framework that does that in the coming weeks. in fact, my hope is to get this done before christmas. but -- the place where we already have in theory at least complete agreement, right now, is on middle-class taxes. and as i've said before, we have two choices. if congress does nothing, every family in america will see their taxes automatically go up at the beginning of next year. starting january 1st, every family in america will see their taxes go up. a typical middle-class family of four, would see its income taxes go up by $2200. that's $2200 out of people's pockets. that means less money for buying groceries, less money for filling prescriptions, less money for buying diapers. it means a tougher choice between paying the rent and paying tuition and middle-class families just can't afford that right now. by the way, businesses can't afford it either. yesterday, i sat down with some small business owners who stressed this point. economists predict that if taxes go up on the mi
